The next one! in my case literally, we are planning a two week swing through Nova Scotia, scouting locations for our retirement home. Looking for a couple of acres with river frontage, some outbuildings (bus sized parking, 'natch) and no close neighbours to suddenly buy LOUD Harleys and use the street as a drag strip at 2 in the am, and you get the drift. Peace and quiet.

Trips we've take to Myrtle Beach, Savannah, and our trip this spring to South Carolina where all excellent, but truly the best is yet to come!

Alaska,just for it's rugged beauty and we love to fish.While fishing the Kenai river we had a very large Moose crossing the river right behind our boat.I would love to go back soon. When Brian said he was going to Nova Scotia that also was a great trip.We loved Nova Scotia along with going to P.E.Island and Quebec. But then I think about Oregon and we just love the coast and been there several times. Don

The one I'm on now! As I sit here in my bus reading the boards looking out the windows at all the beauty of this country.

Every trip is memorable. My kids will have some great memories to pass on to their kids. Most will be about their crazy father who partially built an RV from an old Greyhoundand then dragged them to all corners of the globe, but as the years go by, they'll long for the old days and may one day decide to build their own bus.

Each one has been my favorite so far, one great trip was in the Revcon back in 2001, we left for Summersville, WV for a bluegrass fest in june of that year, enjoyed the fest, saw my first poisonous snake, got permanently terrified by them and had a ball, we hit several bluegrass fests that trip and picked up my daughter and dragged her around for a while, we got back home october 21st. Another great trip was the run south where we got to meet a bunch of great people, we stopped in tenn for a while and got to meet BK and the crew there and then on to jacks place in florida, we pulled into arcadia about 6PM on christmas eve and called jack from a grocery store, he said stay there he'd come get us and before long a large riding lawnmower with a cab pulled up and out stepped NCBob and jack, it wasn't a mower but a car, turned out to be a kinda nice car but I hadn't seen one like that before. We followed them to jacks where I got to see my second poisonous snake laying flat on the highway, Tom Mason had flattened it on his way to jacks place, thats where I learned the sound a snake makes, kinda thump thump. We got home from that trip in May, we've had a bunch of great trips and if the good lords willing , we'll have a bunch more.

Our first big trip in the Courier 96 to Ft. Worth, Tx. The boys were younger then, 10 and 12, in many ways the best age for kids. Taking the long way home through N. Mex, Co, Wy, Montana, taking in all the sights...

Another one that stands out is to Moab, Utah with the dirt bikes this March. One day at a time, not knowing where we're going to sleep the next night... The boys aren't as excited about the bus anymore, (teenagers...), but they still appreciate it for the space and convenience. Of course I have as much fun with the bus, if not more, than riding a dirt bike.

Nathan the older one, 17, is driving now. He has to do his air brakes course, (mandatory in B.C.). Then he can start driving the bus. That'll be interesting...! But I want them to learn to drive a big rig. And he can get excited about bus trips again.

Well I have only been on one trip since getting it livable. That was great but I have to say the trip to get the bus in OR was one trip I will never forget. I was December 2007 and about 10 below. We just left Winnemucca NV and I was doing about 80 mph in our Outback when a coyote decided to commit suicide. I had the wife screaming in my ear as he came out of the barrow pit. I sure was glad the air bags didn't go off. I stopped to inspect the damage and found there to be some but nothing I couldn't live with. I had my wife, daughter and my grandson were on board for this trip. We got to Bend OR at about noon and my mind was running away with thoughts of what the H** was I thinking, hope it isn't junk, did I waste my time and money and what will the wife and daughter say if all the above is true. My stomach wasn't in much better shape after driving all this way to get a bus that I have never seen in person. When I rounded the corner an saw the bus sitting there I was very pleased with myself. I drove that thing 400 miles home with with a smile from ear to ear and got to give everybody in town a ride that wanted one before I took out all the seats. I sure we will have trips that top this one but this is the start of the madness.

John

« Last Edit: July 29, 2010, 07:23:37 AM by Jriddle »

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If It Can't Be Grown Then It Has To Be MinedJohn RiddleWells NV1984 MC9

My absolute best trip was the first and that one was a horror story. Truly scary. My friends said they would have abandoned the Winnie and another asked how I stopped myself from slashing my wrists. That rip included a fire in the dash that obliterated my vision and chocked me out while motoring down the freeway and finding out why this thing is getting a whopping 2 miles to the gallon. Then there was the bath in scalding differential oil. And on and on and on!!!!!!

Most memorable. Isn't that the best?

John

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"An uneducated vote is a treasonous act more damaging than any treachery of the battlefield.The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." Plato “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”—Pla

The 5100 mile trip with Dad & my son to Hungry Horse, MT (- spent over a day loading 11,000 pounds of bus parts & junk & took another day to tour Glacier National Park) was a memorable one given we did it all in 7 days!

The trip to bring one home from Delaware was interesting - from blocking the pier entrance on the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel while we thought the batteries were bad (so we replaced them) to making a wrong turn & finding out the reverse solenoid was jammed - then upon trying to restart it, we found it was the starter solenoid was bad - all while blocking traffic in a less than friendly neighborhood (think gang bangers). The fact that the two friends that went with me on that trip are still speaking to me is proof we're all NUTS!

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Life is all about finding people who are your kind of crazy

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please (Mark Twain)

Our favorite trip is this last one. From north of Seattle to Sacramento for the jazz fest, to Lake Minden for the boat races, to Reno for the hell of it, to Roseburg for Camp Gregory and relatives, to Rickreall for Bus'n USA, to Champoeg State Park for the river and relatives, to McMinnville for the Air Museum, to Spokane for relatives, to Newport for rest, to Pasco for the hydroplane races and relatives, then ease on home for the wife. Great trip. Only 2500 miles but we took 10 weeks and met some great people. The only problem we had with the bus is an exhaust leak the last day. Ambient temps from Pasco to Ellensburg were around 103 deg. and the bus stayed under 195 even on the passes with the misters run periodically. I think a manifold crack that was welded 7 years ago may have gone bad. I'll look for one with out cracks this time. I guess welding didn't work that well on that big old manifold...Cable

Good point Kyle. I'll mull it over. I'm just having trouble with the thought of removing that thing every 7 years. It's heavy, I think 70 or 80 lbs., and around behind the engine. Not much room in the 4104 between the 671 and the bulkhead. If I were younger and thinner I'd have no problem...Cable

my favorite trip in the bus was when...ok I haven't had one yet unless you count the tow truck ride when I bought it! It took 4 hours to get to the bus. Bruce of Bruce's towing had it loaded in no time. I hardly lifted a finger. We left for a 4 hour trip home that turned into 7.5 hours after a blow out on the landoll! It was a very tiring day even though all I did was ride for 11.5 hours! I read everyone's posts here with great interest. Sometimes I don't know what the heck ya'll are talking about as I'm new to this HD stuff, but I'm learning! Currently, I am cleaning the bus up, and trying to get water leaks fixed. For the fall, I plan to get some rotted floors replaced. The family is warming up to it finally!

Most will be about their crazy father who partially built an RV from an old Greyhoundand then dragged them to all corners of the globe, but as the years go by, they'll long for the old days and may one day decide to build their own bus.

I am one of this children, to a T. My father converted an old 1956 Courier 96, and took us to Disneyland, Utah, Montana, all the Western states. Ski trips to the rocky mountains... The bus was used for moving everyone of my 5 siblings, at one point or another, as well as following our Marching Band all over the US. As kids, we would travel on the newer chartered buses with the rest of the band kids, and Mom and Dad traveled behind in the old bus. (We were one of the best Marching Bands of our time, and went to many Marching Bands of America competitions, and won many of them. The funny thing was, we were a band from a small little Canadian town in Alberta...

So, to Gumpy's comment. I long for those good old days. I am 39 years old, and I have the bus "Bug", just like me father did when he was my age. I have 5 kids of my own, and I want them to experience the same excitement I felt when we were loading the bus for one of those trips. I used to get so giddy... My parents have down sized to a newer C-Class Ford motor home, but my mom, without thinking, refers to it as "the bus."

So, I have "inherited" the old Courier 96, and am in the process of upgrading to a mid 80's MCI or Prevost. My father is doing everything in his power to talk me out of it...